The Holocaust & the Exile of Yiddish

"[A] fascinating book..[T]he story Trachtenberg tells—and depicts with brilliant illustrations—is a testament to the perseverance of those who sought to continue producing knowledge in spite of everything, and is a useful contribution to Yiddish studies." ~Holocaust and Genocide Studies

"Trachtenberg’s monograph joins a host of others published in recent years focused on interwar Yiddish culture...Trachtenberg makes the point of directly addressing the presence and absence of Yiddish-speaking women in the male-dominated Yiddish intellectual project like the Algemeyne Entsiklopedye... The Holocaust & The Exile of Yiddish is a testament to archival research and the collection of knowledge—both in terms of its subject matter and its own creation." ~Sonia Gollance, The Mosse Program

"As Barry Trachtenberg illuminates in his important and insightful history of the Algemeyne entsiklopedye, the Yiddish cultural nationalist dreams of the 1920s and 1930s would be utterly transformed by the throes of World War II and the annihilation of Jewish Europe, but not destroyed...[The Holocaust & the Exile of Yiddish] tells the story of a burgeoning moment in Yiddish culture, and of the fate of that culture in post-war America, a story waiting to be heard, and one that is accessible to students and scholars alike." ~PaRDeS: Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany

"How a Yiddish encyclopedia became a document of the Holocaust and Jewish culture," by Benjamin Ivry

~The Forward

"Encyclopedic Knowledge: Rokhl’s Golden City: A new look at the story behind one of the quirkiest Yiddish reference books," by Rokhl Kafrissen

~Tablet

"One cannot read this work without feeling gratitude toward Trachtenberg for his prodigious research and the clarity of his understanding. One must read it also to understand the audacity of its original self-assigned task and the persistence of those who insisted—even after the destruction, even after multiple exiles and perilous journeys of survival—there was a task that must be completed. Such persistence, such dedication, such determination, and such loyalty to a common task."

~Michael Berenbaum, professor of Jewish studies and director of the Sigi Ziering Institute, American Jewish University, and managing editor, Encyclopaedia Judaica 2nd Edition

"A fresh contribution to Jewish studies as a whole and Yiddish studies in particular, this work is especially notable for bridging the prewar, World War II, and postwar periods."

~Cecile E. Kuznitz, author of YIVO and the Making of Modern Jewish Culture: Scholarship for the Yiddish Nation

"An excellent vantage point for understanding many things associated with Jewish life in the twentieth century. The scope of research and analysis is very impressive. This is a very useful book!"

~Gennady Estraikh, author of Transatlantic Russian Jewishness: Ide­o­log­i­cal Voy­ages of the Yid­dish Dai­ly Forverts in the First Half of the Twen­ti­eth Cen­tu­ry